Good morning. Let's open up this
morning's service, the back of your bulletin. We're going to
sing to him the back of your bulletin. If you all could please
stand. Come, Jehovah, with us meet,
as we worship at thy feet. Here we are, assembled now. Prostrate, Lord, we humbly bow. Prostrate, Lord, we humbly bow. Thou art God and Thou alone,
reigning on Thy sovereign throne. Thou the potter, we the clay,
grant salvation, Lord, we pray. Grant salvation, Lord, we pray. Show us mercy in our plea. Grace and kindness are within. Speak the word that we may live. All our sinfulness forgive. All our sinfulness we forgive. May thy mercy fill this place,
grant to us thy sovereign grace. Thine the glory, Lord, shall
be now and for eternity, now and for Y'all can be seated. Good morning. We're going to
continue our study in 1 Corinthians. And those of you that have been
with us know that we are beginning the very last chapter in 1 Corinthians. And so, I was tempted to do something
different this morning, but I realized that there's a There's a theme
that goes throughout this entire chapter that I think will be
a very much of encouragement to God's people. I've titled
this study, Co-Laborers. Co-Laborers. And that seems to
be the theme that the Lord uses to bring this letter together. And so my hope is that the Lord
will put on each of our hearts an understanding, a joy, and
a burden for joining hands with our brethren in the labor of
the gospel. Before we begin, I want us to
have a word of prayer, and Michael Etheridge, if you have not heard,
Michael's father, Bob, I've known Bob for 20 years. Met him in
California many years ago, and Bob's been watching our services
Sunday morning, Wednesday night, faithfully, for the last 10 years. They retired in Illinois, and
the Lord took Bob home Thursday, I think it was. So Michael went
up and preached his funeral, his dad's funeral. And I'm not
sure when he's going to be back. Probably maybe today, I don't
know. So very, very thankful for the
hope of knowing that Bob loved the gospel, loved Christ. Also, Cyril and Lenore have been
with us this winter and they are headed home this week. Well,
this is kind of home, right? You guys are going back to Pennsylvania
for a few months. They are Lord willing to be back
in October, so we will miss them greatly. Robert, thank you for your preaching
in my absence Sunday and Wednesday. I'm very thankful for you and
for Michael. Let's pray together. Our merciful
Heavenly Father, how grateful we are for Your grace, for the
accomplished work of Thy dear Son, for the hope of eternal
life that You put into the hearts of Your people as we find our
rest and our comfort and all our salvation in the finished
work of Christ. How we pray, Father, that You
would send Your Holy Spirit in power, enable us to speak of
Him, enable us to hear His voice, enable us to set our affections
on Him, enable us to rest all the hope of our salvation on
His glorious person and His accomplished work. and how thankful we are
that in the volume of the book it is written of him. Lord, we
pray that you would open what no man can shut. Pray that you
would open your word, that you would open our hearts, that you
would open the windows of heaven. that you would bless us with
thy presence. We thank you for Michael and
for the grace that you gave him to minister the gospel to his
family and thank you for his dad's testimony and for the hope
of knowing that you gave to him eternal life. And Lord, we pray
for Michael's mom and brother and ask, Lord, that you would
use this time to minister grace and mercy to their hearts. We
ask it in Christ's name. Amen. I am always concerned that visitors
might get the wrong impression if we deal with a passage of
scripture that's related to giving. And that's how this chapter starts
out. But this happens to be where
we are in our study, and we make no apology for what the Lord
has instructed us in His Word. And I just can hope that someone
doesn't think that this is the focus of our attention. As I said, this whole chapter
deals with the unity of believers in their labor of the gospel. We have one subject, and that's
Christ. We have one goal, and that's
His glory. We have one audience, if you
will, and that's God's elect. That's who we're seeking to speak
to. And we are greatly encouraged
in knowing that, well, we have brethren here this morning from
different churches, from Tennessee, from Kentucky, and I've been
in their churches, and been in other gospel churches, and such
encouragement to know that there's no division in Christ. that we
all see eye to eye. We've been taught by the same
spirit. We have the same word. We believe
the same thing. And so this co-laboring that
we have is not only among believers within a fellowship, But it's
among believers between fellowships. And everything that's being done
in Lexington, Kentucky, Claire, is part of what we're participating
in. And everything that's being done
here is part of what they're participating in. We're all members
of the same body. There's one faith. There's one
church. There's one God and Father of
us all, and we're engaged in the same work. Our work is the
gospel. And so Paul, under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, begins this closing chapter by reminding
the saints in Corinth of their responsibility and their opportunity
to participate in the care of the other churches financially. And so he begins this chapter
by saying, now concerning the collection for the saints, as
I have given order to the churches of Galatia, so do ye. So this is, these instructions
are from the Lord to all his churches. And all of God's people
in every church hear what God says. And they rejoice in it
and believe it. I think I mentioned a couple
of weeks ago, you know, every single time we engage in conversation
with another person, even if it be a person that we trust,
we're always asking ourselves two questions. Is what they're
saying true? And do they mean it? And those two questions are never
asked when God speaks. When God speaks, we never wonder,
well, I wonder if this is true. No, we know it's true. Faith
believes God. And we never wonder if he means
it. we know that it's that it's God's
voice speaking and that it's it's to our salvation and ultimately
to his glory and so he says now concerning this matter of collection
you remember In the book of Acts, right after Stephen's stoning,
persecution came upon the Jewish believers in Jerusalem. And as
a result of that persecution, the scripture says they were
scattered abroad. So a lot of the Jewish believers had to leave
Jerusalem. That was their home. That was
their livelihood. That was their work. That's where
their family lived. And the Lord used persecution
to scatter them and kind of like putting out a fire, you know?
You stomp on the fire and everywhere an ember goes, it creates a new
fire. And so we see the Lord's purpose
in that. But these believers were left
destitute as a result of the gospel. And so one of the things
that Paul did was that he encouraged all the churches to participate
in the support of these believers that were suffering as a result
of the gospel. And so he gives us some very
clear instructions on how this collection was supposed to be
made. He says, upon the first day of the week. Well, that's today, isn't it?
We often refer to Sunday as part of the weekend, but it really
isn't. You look at your calendar, Sunday's
the first day of the week, isn't it? And we meet on the first
day of the week in recognition of the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and rejoice in His accomplished work, and face
our new week with the hope of knowing that he has accomplished
our salvation and put away our sin once and for all. And so
we gather. John, when he's on the Isle of
Patmos, refers to today as the Lord's Day. And and this is the
day that the that the believers gather together. And so he says,
when you come together on the first day of the week, let every
one of you everyone of you know he's gonna say in proportion
to how god has has blessed you and i did clearly uh... believers
would like to be able to do a lot more than they do uh... this is for every child of god
to participate in the work of the gospel. And they rejoice
in the opportunity to be able to do it. And so the Lord is
saying, let every one of you lay by Him in store. In other words, what the Lord's
saying is, don't let your giving be just sort of a knee-jerk reaction
that you do when you walk into the church. pray about planet
prepare for it uh... as the lord what you should do
uh... don't don't don't uh... don't
let it be you know just something that will all we've got to give
something uh... this is a this is a blessing
that god has given to his children to participate in the work of
the ministry and uh... you know that the scripture says
the lord uh... loves a cheerful giver and that uh... he gives us a willing heart in
this matter of supporting uh... the ministry so he says on the
first day of the week let everyone of you lay by him in store as
god has prospered him what do we give this as god is prospered
some some believers have been prospered a lot more than others
some believers struggle just to get make ends meet and uh... so we don't compare are giving
to one another we we ask the lord what would you have me to
do based on uh... how you prospered me that there may be no gathering
uh... when i come i don't want this
to be you know what what the lord's saying here is that the
means will be provided before the need is there. The means will be provided before
the need is there. That's true of the gospel. All the means of our salvation
were provided before the fall. The fall was ordained for the
lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. Christ
wasn't an afterthought to fix the fall. The means was already
provided. Salvation was already accomplished
in the covenant of grace, in the ordained purpose of God.
Salvation was already accomplished before man fell. What a glorious
God we serve. And all he's saying here is that
that when the means are available, then the need will become apparent. And that's how the Lord provides
in every way. So, we don't beg for men to give
because we have a need. You say, well, we've got this
financial need now. You all need to step up. You give out of a willing heart.
Weekly. As the Lord has prospered. Joyfully. And as the means are available,
God will provide a need. Alright. When I come, whomsoever
you shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your
liberality unto Jerusalem. Here's a, Lord give me a spirit
of liberality in giving. Not just financially, but in
every way. Make me a liberal person. You
may think, well, I'm conservative politically, but you know what,
it's okay to be a liberal when it comes to giving. In every
way. And Paul said, when I come, I'll
take your liberality back with me to Jerusalem. This is on his
third missionary journey. Paul is writing 2 Corinthians
from Ephesus. You can read about that in Acts
chapter 19. Remember the riot that breaks
out in Ephesus as a result of Demetrius, the silversmith who
fears that the gospel is cutting into his profits because he's
not able to promote the cult of Diana like he once was. Paul stayed in Ephesus for two
and a half years. and suffered up a lot of persecution
as a result of the gospel ultimately left there came he's gonna talk
about this in this chapter is a reason I'm telling you this
he came back through Macedonia which is where that's when I
care is and Philip I and Maria and even Athens on his way back
to car and so he says I'm coming back to Corinth to receive your
offering and for the churches in Jerusalem and so well but
could look adverse look adverse for uh... well verse three whom show up
whom so ever you shall approve uh... we have tried desperately
to make sure that all financial dealings in this fellowship for
the last twenty years have been clearly uh... documented financial
statements you see what where everything's go every penny uh... and uh... and that's important
because there's a lot of there's a lot of religious organizations
that uh... that don't do that and that high
a lot of things paul saying You get somebody to come with me.
I don't want to be responsible for this money. I don't want
there to be any appearance of evil. I don't want anybody to
make an accusation against me. And we've tried to do that here.
I don't have a clue. Don't want to know. I don't have
any idea who gives what. And keep completely out of that. That's all Paul's saying. I don't
want to be a part of that at all. And if it be meet that I
go also, they shall go with me. I'm not going to take it by myself.
They're going to go with me for two purposes. To make sure that
everything has no appearance of evil in it and also for the
encouragement that the believers back in Jerusalem and have been
scattered abroad will have for these saints in Corinth. Why?
Because we're co-laboring together. We're in this ministry, we're
in this gospel ministry all together. This is what, this is our life.
This is our life, not just my life, it's your life. It's the
life of the body of Christ. Now I will come unto you when
I pass through Macedonia, for I do pass through Macedonia.
If you look on your map, you'll see that the churches in Macedonia,
Paul visited them when he left Ephesus. And it may be that I
will abide, yea, and winter with you, that you may bring me on
my journey, whithersoever I go." I've got plans of coming through
the churches of Macedonia on my way to visit you. Where the
Lord sends me after that, I don't know. So I'll come and winter
there, and we'll pray together that the Lord will direct my
steps as to where I should take the gospel from here. Verse 7. For I will not see you
now by the way, but I trust to tarry a while with you if the
Lord permit. It's gonna be a little while
before I get there, and when I get there, I'm hoping to stay
with you and visit with you, encourage you, preach the gospel
to you, and share in all the blessings that the Lord has given
to the churches together with you. Aren't you blessed to hear
what the Lord's doing in other churches? I know a lot of you
all, several of you have told me you watched the conference
in Ashland this weekend, and had an opportunity to preach
in Lexington Wednesday night, and just so encouraged. And they
were encouraged to hear what the Lord's doing here. And I
can't be around other believers without them asking me, well,
how so-and-so? How so-and-so? So this is our
experience. This is our experience. My question
to you is, is this your experience? Is this your experience? If you're
part of the body of Christ, this is our life. This is our life. You're thinking,
well, I'm just kind of out of the loop. Well, maybe you're
out of Christ. Maybe you're out of Christ. Verse 8. But I will tarry at
Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great door and effectual
is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. Now, child
of God, every time the Lord opens a door of opportunity, He's going
to provide adversaries. Every time. It's that way in the preaching
of the gospel. It's that way in our life. Why? The Lord tries
every blessing that He gives us to prove its genuineness to
us. God doesn't have to have anything
proved to Him. He knows the blessings that He sent. But you and I have
to know, is this from the Lord? And we have to be reminded that
it's of Him, and we have to be encouraged to believe that these
blessings have come from God. And so, He tries the blessings
with adversary. Paul called them necessities.
Count it all joy, James said, my brethren, when you fall into
divers temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith worketh
patience. Patience for who? For me, the
one who's got the faith. And patience, when it is complete,
makes us perfect and entire, lacking nothing. Every blessing,
every blessing that God gives is going to be tried. And if the trial destroys the
blessing, then the blessing's been proven, hasn't it? But if
the trial just makes us more dependent on the Lord, if it
makes His presence more sweet, our need for Him greater than
the Lord has proved to us, and tried our faith, and perfected
the trying of your faith. Paul said, and certainly it was
in Ephesus, I mean, there were riots breaking out, there were
threats on Paul's life, there were other believers, other leaders
in the church that were brought before and beaten. You read all
about it in Acts 19. And so he said, this is where
God has me, stayed there, like I said, for two and a half years,
preached the gospel in the midst of great adversity, great opposition. The world in which we live opposes
the gospel that we believe. Why? Because it's a threat, just
like Demetrius the silversmith who was making little idols of
Deanna and was afraid that his money-making endeavor was going
to be threatened. That's what religion's all about.
It's idolatry, all for the purpose of making money. And the gospel
is a threat to man-made religion. You know that's true in your
family, don't you? You have religious family members you've tried to
talk to about the gospel. Verse 10. Now, if Timotheus come,
see that he may be with you without fear. Like I said, there's a
co-laborer. You see that theme in this chapter?
Co-laborer. Now Paul said, I've set Timothy
ahead, and when he comes, you receive him. Treat him well. He's my right hand, and I want
you to be gracious to him. If Timothy comes, see that he
may be with you without fear, for he worketh the work of the
Lord as I also do. He's engaged in the same work
I'm engaged in. You're engaged in the same work
I'm engaged in. We're engaged in the same work
with each other. We're engaged in the same work
with other gospel churches. We're all in this together. Let no man therefore despise
him. Remember, we've been in 1st and 2nd Corinthians now for
over a year, and you remember some of the problems that they
had in this church. And it all had to do with competition
and jealousy. And it destroyed this spirit
of co-laboring, and so it's appropriate that the Lord would wrap both
these letters up with a reminder for us to put aside those things
that might cause us to differ and focus our attention on the
thing we have in common. As touching our brother Apollos,
I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren, but
his will was not at all to come at this time, but he will come
when he shall have convenient time." You know, we have to decide for ourselves
what the Lord would have us to do. I've met preachers that are way
too quick to tell people what they ought to be doing. And I
have purposely tried to avoid that. I don't know what you ought
to do. I'm not your priest. each of them paul said i i thought
that it was right for a palace to come and i encouraged him
to go but he prayed about it and it was right it when the
right time for him you'll come when it's convenient you'll come
on the lord puts it on his heart to come uh... but we don't tell
each other what the scripture refers to the church as a priesthood
of believers That means that each and every child of God has
direct access to the throne of grace in the person of their
Savior. And they are the best person,
you are the best person to discern what the Lord would have you
to do. Now that doesn't mean that we
don't seek the counsel of others. And there's, when we do that, I can't tell you how many times
in the years of my life that I've had people come to me for
counsel, and it was clear in just a short order that they
weren't really interested in my views of things. They were looking for somebody
to give them affirmation of a decision that they'd already made. And I'd tell them, you know,
well, I don't think you should do that if you're asking me,
you know, and they'll turn around and do it anyway. You know, they
had already made up their mind. They were just looking for somebody
to affirm a bad decision that they had already made. You know, if you're going to
seek counsel, there's wisdom in the counsel of many. Now that
doesn't mean that you ask a whole bunch of people what you should
do and then try to figure out who to follow. Wisdom in the
counsel of many means that everybody you seek counsel from in a particular
thing, if they're a child, they're all going to tell you the same
thing. They're going to tell you the same thing. Then you
know. But the point is that Apollos
didn't follow Paul's counsel. Paul thought it was best for
Apollos to go. He said, no, it's not the right time. You're the
best person. If you know Christ, you've got
the Spirit of God, you've got the Word of God, you're the best
person to discern what's right and wrong for you. So don't run to other men all
the time. Ask the Lord. He'll show you.
He'll show you. And when we go to the Lord
for counsel, it's not like, well, Lord, I'd really like to know
what you think about this so that I can consider it. No. Be like young Samuel. speak lord
for by servant listeners you look up that word listeners it
doesn't mean i'm just i'm listening to hear what you have to say
so that i can take it into consideration that word list that means to
obey speak lord i'm ready to do whatever you tell me to do
whatever you tell me to do you go to the lord like that you
don't have to worry about him abusing you i don't know the
thoughts that i have for you Thoughts for peace. I love you. I've got your best interest at
heart. Faith just goes to the throne of grace. Lord, speak
to my heart. Whatever you say. Whatever you
say. I want to follow you. I want
to obey you. Watch ye. Stand fast in the faith. Quit ye like men and be strong.
Don't be like a child driven by every wind of doctrine and
pushed around to and fro. You've got the mind of Christ.
Be strong in the Lord. Look to Him. Let all your things be done with
love. That's our motive. That was God's motive. It was
God's motive in saving. The very first thing that God
did If we can order things in eternity, which we really can't
because there's no time in eternity, but if we can sort of put them
in an order of events, the very first thing, I have loved you
with an everlasting love. I've given you my Son. I've laid
down my life for you. I've redeemed you. I've called
you by my grace. It all starts with love. That's His cause for everything. And all the Lord's saying is,
if you have the mind of Christ, let that be your cause. your
love for Christ, your love for the gospel, your love for his
church, your love for God's people. Seek the Lord to give you that
grace and you'll be a good co-laborer with
the other brethren. All right, let's take a break
and we'll hold the rest of this chapter for another time. Yeah, yeah.